


Operation: Black Hayate

by satiricalnerd



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Post-Canon, Post-Promised Day, Puppy Love, black hayate goes missing, the musgang bonds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26118940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satiricalnerd/pseuds/satiricalnerd
Summary: When Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye decides to pay a visit to the Elric-Rockbell family, she leaves Black Hayate in the care of Roy Mustang.When he runs away, Roy reunites the Musgang for their most important mission yet- finding Black Hayate before Riza realizes he's missing.
Relationships: Edward Elric & Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye & Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	Operation: Black Hayate

“I’ll be back in three days, can you handle it?” Riza asked cautiously.  
“Yes Lieutenant, you can count on me.”  
Roy looked down at Black Hayate, who was sitting patiently and obediently by his feet.  
“You have such a well-trained mutt here,” Roy mused, “I doubt he’ll give me any trouble at all.”  
“Well,” Riza said, smiling, “I’ll only be at the Elric-Rockbell’s. You know how to contact me if you have any issues, dog-related or otherwise.”  
Mustang nodded. 

“I’ll miss you,” he added.  
Riza leaned into him and pressed her lips to his. To Roy’s distaste, Riza pulled away and gave her Brigadier General a smile and a wave.  
“I’ll be back in a week,” she said.  
“Have fun, Lieutenant! You have definitely earned it.”

Roy closed the apartment door as Riza left. He sighed to himself, already missing her company. He looked down at Black Hayate, who looked up at Roy. 

That look, Roy thought to himself, it’s almost like he’s mocking me!

Black Hayate wagged his tail innocently.

The day was still early. Roy cleaned up dishes from his breakfast with Riza and got dressed in his military uniform. 

“I’ll see you in a few hours, buddy,” Roy said, scratching behind the ears of his girlfriend’s dog.  
He left the apartment without another word.

As it turned out, Roy ended up working late to fill out distasteful paperwork that would usually be done by his right-hand woman. With Riza’s unusual absence, the office was unusually quiet. He was used to silence, but usually, it was the comfortable kind that he shared with the Lieutenant. 

It was past eight when Brigadier General Mustang arrived back at his apartment. He was more than ready to sit down and relax after a long day at work.

“Black Hayate,” Roy called out, waiting for the dog to come to him.  
There was no response from inside the apartment.

“Black Hayate?” Roy asked again, his heart rate beginning to spike.

Still nothing.

Roy’s apartment consisted of three rooms, the main living and eating area, the bathroom, and the bedroom. Black Hayate was nowhere to be found in any corner or nook of the apartment.

The Brigadier General, who had fought on the front lines in the Ishvalan War of Extermination, had killed an immortal homunculus with his powerful alchemy and had faced death too many times to count, was absolutely terrified.

“Damn it,” Roy said to himself. “Get a grip.”

Where could Black Hayate have gone? And more importantly, how did he leave the apartment?

On closer examination of the apartment, Roy noticed that his bedroom window was opened just enough to allow Black Hayate to escape. Cursing himself, he examined how the dog would’ve descended from the window. There was an escape balcony and set of stairs nearly directly below it. Knowing how well Black Hayate was trained, it wouldn’t be a long shot to suggest that the dog had made it all the way to the streets of Central City. 

“If I wasn’t screwed before, I am now,” Roy said to himself angrily. “Black Hayate could be anywhere in Central City by now. There’s no way I can find him by myself.”

“Havoc, there’s a problem.”  
“Is it important enough to interrupt my dinner?” Jean Havoc said from the other side of the phone.  
“Yes,” Roy said curtly.  
“Wait - do you mean- “ Havoc started.  
“No, nothing to do with any government conspiracy or homunculus. Not like that.” Roy paused. “Black Hayate’s run off somewhere. I … I lost him.”  
“That’s WORSE,” Havoc commented through the line.  
“I know you and the old gang are going out for drinks tonight. I’d like to suggest that instead of that, maybe you help me solve my Black Hayate problem.”

There was a pause.  
“I’ll make you a deal, Roy.”  
Roy didn’t like the sound of that.  
“The boys and I help you find your girlfriend’s dog, but only if you’ll finally admit that she’s your girlfriend.”  
Roy growled to himself. He knew that the rest of his old crew had suspicions of him and Riza, but as a Brigadier General, he didn’t exactly love the idea of confirming those potentially career wrecking rumors. 

But what other choice did he have? What was he going to do, search the entire city himself? Black Hayate could be anywhere. 

“Okay,” Roy said. “I accept. On one condition- Riza never has to know what happened here tonight.”  
“That sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me, General!” Havoc said.  
Roy could almost imagine Havoc’s cocky smile as he would inevitably tell the rest of the group about the nature of Roy and Riza’s relationship. 

“I’ll bring the rest of the gang to your house instead of the bar tonight. We can be there as soon as, say, thirty minutes.”  
Roy nodded.  
“Alright. Thank you Havoc. I’ll see you then.”  
The line went dead.

After an hour of waiting, there was finally a knock at Roy’s apartment door.  
An exhausted and half asleep Roy jumped up off his couch and let his old crew inside.  
Vato Falman entered first, with a rare grin on his face. Kain Fuery followed shortly after, looking embarrassed. Then came Breda, looking almost as cocky as Havoc. 

Roy sighed. “You told them already, didn’t you, Havoc.”  
Jean Havoc smiled and nodded. “I told them as soon as I saw them! I can’t exactly keep something like this to myself, can I, General? I half expected you to refuse like you always do, but you must be desperate to admit something like that. Which is why we are here to help.”

“How long have you and Hawkeye been …” Fuery started.

Roy growled. “I’ll field questions later. Right now we need to find the Lieutenant’s dog.”

Fuery looked terrified. “Yes, sir.”  
“Alright,” Roy said gruffly. “Let’s go.”

“Black Hayate!” Roy shouted. “Come! Come on, boy! Hayate! Black Hayate!”  
“I don’t think he’s in this part of the city, General,” Falman said. 

Roy sighed, defeated. “You’re right. Let’s go meet up with the others and see if we can’t check the west sector of town as well.”

Vato Falman nodded. “I’m sorry we haven’t found him, sir. I figured that he couldn’t have gone far. But it seems that he’s still nowhere near your apartment. Or the Lieutenant’s for that matter.”

Roy agreed silently. They’d been searching for hours, and now five men prowling the streets after dark was beginning to look suspicious.

“Hey boss!” Feury shouted from the next street.

“You found him?” Roy said hopefully. He and Falman walked quickly to approach the rest of the group.

“Oh, no. Sorry,” Feury said, scratching the back of his head. “I just wanted to say that it’s getting late. Like- suspiciously late. It’s past midnight. I hate to say it, Brigadier General, sir, but we might be out of luck for tonight.”

Roy grimaced. He knew that Feury was right. Black Hayate was a well-trained dog too. There was a possibility that he might come back on his own.

Falman placed his hand on Roy’s shoulder.  
“Hayate’s a good dog, sir. He can take care of himself, the Lieutenant saw to that. We’ll come back out tomorrow and see what we can do. Who knows, maybe someone has seen him around.”

Roy nodded. “Falman’s right. You all need to go home for tonight. We all have a long day at work tomorrow, and we need to be well-rested. Can I count on you to help me out again tomorrow night after work?”

The group collectively nodded.

“Of course you can, sir,” Havoc said. “Out of everything we’ve done for you, and everything you’ve done for us, what’s a little dog hunting?”

Roy couldn’t help but muster a small laugh, “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, Sir!” The crew saluted, before each going their separate ways.

The next day, Roy could barely focus at work at all. He took one look at the paperwork on his desk and decided that he’d do it after he could rest assured knowing that Black Hayate was safe. Although, this was hardly a far cry from Roy’s normal behavior. 

When Roy returned to his apartment, Falman, Feury, Havoc, and Breda were already waiting for him outside. 

To everyone’s discouragement, another night of searching did no good. Black Hayate was nowhere to be found, and the only person who claimed to have seen him was coincidentally a slobbering drunk. 

“We’ll find him, General. You can count on it,” Breda said comfortingly. “Tomorrow we can put up posters. I’m sure, between the five of us, we can make enough to distribute. Maybe with a photo or drawing, we’ll have better luck.”

Roy nodded, but he couldn’t help but imagine Riza’s crestfallen face when she returned to find that her precious dog- her companion - was missing. And what if Black Hayate wasn’t alright? He needed more time. More time to learn what had happened, more time to scour the city. Central was a big place, after all.

The next morning, before Roy left for work, he knew what he had to do.  
“Colonel Bastard?”  
The elder Elric brother was on the line, and he was clearly surprised.  
“It’s Brigadier General Bastard now,” Roy corrected, trying to put off telling Fullmetal his purpose for calling.  
“Well, I think I’ll just call you Bastard. What are you doing?” Ed asked.  
Roy cleared his throat.  
“I’m in kind of a tough spot right now. I- I lost Black Hayate. I was supposed to look after him and -” Roy sighed in defeat.  
“Riza’s here if you want to talk to her,” Ed offered.  
“No, no, I can’t tell her what’s happened until after I’ve got Black Hayate back safe and sound.”  
“Suit yourself,” Edward said. “So you lost your girlfriend’s dog.”  
Roy winced. Did everyone know about him and Riza?

“Yes, and I wanted to know if you could help me out. Give me some more time, maybe? Some time to figure this out. Could you stall the Lieutenant? Maybe have her stay with you a few extra days?” Roy pleaded.

“No can do,” the elder Elric replied. “You should know Riza well enough to know that won’t work. I suppose, if I do the math, you’ve got 24 hours to find Black Hayate.”

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of Roy’s stomach. 

Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had promised that should Roy ever stray from the straight and narrow, she would shoot him in the back. Roy couldn’t help but wonder if this counted.

That day at work, Roy was so exhausted that he didn’t even pretend to do any work. He locked himself in his office and made as many flyers for Black Hayate as he could before falling asleep.

General-  
Roy snapped awake. Furher Grumman was standing before him.  
He stood sloppily, his cheeks red with embarrassment.  
“Sir, I’m sorry-” Roy started.

The Furher, and his secret girlfriend’s grandfather, laughed and smiled at him.  
“I was wondering why you blew me off for chess earlier, but now I know why.”  
Roy became even more panicked when he realized that his “MISSING DOG” flyers for Black Hayate were still on the top of his desk. He should’ve been more careful.

“Furher, sir, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how it happened, I just should’ve been more careful.”

“You can relax, Brigadier General Mustang. I’m not too worried about Black Hayate. If I know Riza at all, then he has been trained well enough to take care of himself. I have no doubt that you’ll see him again.” 

Roy sighed, relieved.

“If I’m not mistaken, General Mustang, your shift today is over. You must have been out for quite a while.”

Roy looked outside, to find that the sun was already setting. 

Panicked, Roy said a hurried goodbye to the Furher, and practically sprinted to his apartment. 

Thanks to Falman’s quick driving, the posters for Black Hayate were all over Central City in only a few hours. 

“Someone will call,” Havoc said, reassuring Roy. The rest of the crew nodded, smiling.  
“We’re going to go out for a drink, you coming?” Breda offered.

Roy shook his head. “Sorry, but I’m going back to my apartment. I’m hoping someone calls about Black Hayate before I pick up Riza from the train station tomorrow.”

“Suit yourself, General.” 

Roy waved his loyal crew farewell, thanking them for their efforts in finding his Lieutenant’s beloved dog. But in the end, Black Hayate was his responsibility, and he had failed.

He knew Riza better than to fear her wrath, but there was a large part of him that dreaded the disappointment that he would inevitably see in her eyes. 

That night, Roy fell asleep by the telephone. When he woke up, he was upset to have no missed calls. He checked the time. It was quarter past eight. Riza’s train would arrive in thirty minutes. Preparing for the worst, Roy put on his best civilian clothes and figured that it wouldn’t hurt to pick up some flowers on the way.

His heart felt like it was going to fly out of his chest. Not out of excitement and anticipation, as it usually was when he was about to see Riza. Roy was preparing himself for the look of disappointment in Riza’s eyes when he would have to tell her what happened. He prayed to Truth that Edward hadn’t already told her the bad news. 

The train arrived. Roy waited anxiously for his Lieutenant to step onto the platform. After a few moments, he saw the bob of golden hair that he was looking for. As the crowd began to clear, he approached her cautiously.

Then he saw him.

Right next to his Lieutenant, was Black Hayate. Roy’s jaw dropped. 

“Hey, Roy!” How are you doing? I missed you!” Riza said. 

“But- but-” Roy could barely speak. “Black Hayate! He was- I lost him!” Roy wasn’t sure his words made any coherent sense.

Riza looked confused. “I thought Ed called you about him?”

Roy was confused. “What do you mean? I came home from work and Black Hayate was just gone! I don’t know what happened to him. He was missing and I couldn’t find him! I looked all over town…” Roy sputtered out what words he could.

“What do you mean? I thought Edward told you? I told him to call you once I got to Resembool.”

It all started to make sense. 

“Black Hayate. Was with you. All along?” Roy said. Fullmetal was going to pay for this one.

“Yes, he was,” Riza confirmed. "I was about to board my train when I noticed that this rascal must have snuck out and followed me down to the station. I decided that I might as well take him with me. Did- did Edward not call you?”

“Damn right he didn’t call me! I actually called him! I was terrified that I’d lost your dog so I called him yesterday to ask and- that bastard-” Roy yelled.

Some of the other people at the station were looking at Roy and Riza oddly.

Riza put a hand over her mouth and started to laugh. 

“You mean Edward let you think that you lost Black Hayate?” Riza said, trying her best to stifle her laugh when she looked at the pure fury in her General’s eyes. 

“That pea-sized asshole,” Roy muttered under his breath, clutching his fists. 

Riza put a hand on Roy’s shoulder. “In any case,” she said, “Black Hayate is safe. He is safe, and I missed you.”  
She stood up on her toes and places a light kiss on Roy’s cheek.

“I’m going to get Fullmetal back for this,” Roy said, cursing the name of his former subordinate.  
Riza just chucked to herself and reached for Roy’s hand. He didn’t realize how worried he was about disappointing the Lieutenant, but holding her hand in his felt like the greatest relief in the world.

Regardless of how angry he was at Edward Elric-Rockbell, he could deal with that another time. Roy squeezed his Lieutenant’s hand and gave a small smile. 

“I missed you too, Lieutenant Hawkeye.” 

“Next time,” Riza said with a smile, “I should just take you with me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This was all written after midnight, so it might be a bit sloppy. Anyway, I wrote the one shot I wanted to read! I hope that you enjoyed it!!!  
> Feel free to leave any comments down below!


End file.
